I generally hew strongly to Kipling's view on the clergy ("Be polite, but not friendly, with bishops. Be kind to all poor parish priests."), but I'll give a tip of my hat to this man for his defiance of communism. Whether or not you agree with his theology, he used his notoriety (from the government's point of view) as a tool to stand up for what he believed in- in the face of a fairly despotic government.

It would have been better if he had built 300 meeting places for anarchists, freethinkers, and the like to smoke pot, have promiscuous sex, and otherwise live free from Communist totalitarianism. IMHO, Catholicism is just as oppressive as any Communist government--just compare life under a Medici Pope to life under Josef Stalin. Communist fanatics are just as dangerous as Catholic fanatics--different belief systems, same personality disorder...

Wenchmaster:I generally hew strongly to Kipling's view on the clergy ("Be polite, but not friendly, with bishops. Be kind to all poor parish priests."), but I'll give a tip of my hat to this man for his defiance of communism. Whether or not you agree with his theology, he used his notoriety (from the government's point of view) as a tool to stand up for what he believed in- in the face of a fairly despotic government.

Requiesce in pace, padre.

i wanna subscribe to your newsletter but HEEEYY are those Chinese runners yer wearing ?I bet yer all "Made in America" aren't ya?

Wenchmaster:I generally hew strongly to Kipling's view on the clergy ("Be polite, but not friendly, with bishops. Be kind to all poor parish priests."), but I'll give a tip of my hat to this man for his defiance of communism. Whether or not you agree with his theology, he used his notoriety (from the government's point of view) as a tool to stand up for what he believed in- in the face of a fairly despotic government.

thisisarepeat:Psycat: DanInKansas: 4 comments in and I thought I'd be in before the ultracool, not at all old-and-busted Grumpy Atheist Brigade, but even three comments in is enough for the thread-shiatters.

I take offense at that. I'm a card-carrying member of the Smartass Atheist Brigade...

I just promoted myself to private first class

I used to be Corporal Punishment, but then I promoted myself to General Admission ;)

Psycat:thisisarepeat: Psycat: DanInKansas: 4 comments in and I thought I'd be in before the ultracool, not at all old-and-busted Grumpy Atheist Brigade, but even three comments in is enough for the thread-shiatters.

I take offense at that. I'm a card-carrying member of the Smartass Atheist Brigade...

I just promoted myself to private first class

I used to be Corporal Punishment, but then I promoted myself to General Admission ;)

I'm an agnostic, my brother is an atheist, my dad is an atheist (and has been my entire life), and all three of us very happily celebrated Christmas Eve without eating meat and breaking wafers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_in_Poland#Wigilia.2C_the_Chri st mas_Eve_supper _). It's incredibly, incredibly difficult to fully separate being Polish and being Catholic. If we purged every family tradition that had to do with the church, we'd lose all the important ones. And while forced religion effing sucks, so does forced atheism, and you should be able to figure out why.

Communist security troops were routinely sent to the churches after they were discovered but, faced with the embarrassing prospect of demolishing a structure built by local volunteers, the authorities frequently gave in.

had98c:Psycat: thisisarepeat: Psycat: DanInKansas: 4 comments in and I thought I'd be in before the ultracool, not at all old-and-busted Grumpy Atheist Brigade, but even three comments in is enough for the thread-shiatters.

I take offense at that. I'm a card-carrying member of the Smartass Atheist Brigade...

I just promoted myself to private first class

I used to be Corporal Punishment, but then I promoted myself to General Admission ;)

Shoulda been Private Public and General Specific.

There's also Major Major Major Major in Heller's "Catch-22". I always thought Colonel Korn would be pretty funny, too...

I think you're reading too much into my post. Besides, from what I gather about Russia--and probably many of the Warsaw Pact countries--is that they did have a resurgence of Christianity after the fall of the Soviet Union.

I personally despise the idea of "hate speech". There is nothing wrong with hate. It can be useful and justified. Nor is there something wrong with speaking that hate. True freedom of speech should ideally protect one's right to say anything, positive or negative.

Should we give up that right, we take another step closer to the government legally oppressing those who speak against it.